Column: Mentoring is key to the industry's survival

The future of the travel agent industry depends on the older generation taking newcomers under their wing and playing an active role in their development, writes Kari C. Thomas, president of Will Travel Inc. This way, young agents strengthen the foundation of what is hopefully a lifetime career, and older agents are assured that they will leave the profession in capable hands. "Here's the hard truth, if we don't embrace younger agents and offer them the support of a mentor, then the media and all the hype will be right -- ours will be a dying industry," Thomas writes.